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What’s The Age Limit On Trick Or Treating?

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By Christy StrawserCBS Detroit Managing Editor
While most communities across metro Detroit set times for trick-or-treaters to be on the streets, there’s something they don’t control: their ages.

That leaves the age-old question up to parents: When should kids stop trick or treating?

Some believe there shouldn’t be a limit, arguing that high schoolers should be free to dress up and prowl the neighborhood alongside their younger counterparts. It’s a way to keep them out of trouble.

The more traditional believe if you’re old enough to drive, you’re too old to beg strangers for candy.

And some take a hard line on the issue, with several cities in Virginia and Belleville, Ill., banning anyone 12 years old or over from trick or treating. The argument comes from a public safety perspective. Belleville mayor Mark Eckert told wtkr.com the ban was a way to ensure seniors and single mothers weren’t frightened by 6-foot-tall strangers at their door on Halloween night.

Eckert told wtkr.com, “When I was a kid my father said to me, ‘You’re too damn big to be going trick-or-treating.’ You’re done. When that doesn’t happen, then that’s reason for the city governments to intervene.”

No community in metro Detroit has drawn the line on age — and it seems like it would be virtually impossible to enforce if they wanted to (How many 15-year-olds carry ID?)

That leaves it up to parents and the kind strangers distributing candy at their doorstep to decide. So, where do you draw the line? Have you been outraged at the age of candy beggars at your door in the past — and how did you handle it?

If you’re looking for help on where to draw the cut-off age for trick or treating, here’s our lighthearted list of ways to know you’re too old to trick-or-treat.